MCC debuts new theater building

Friday

Theater lovers and students seeking careers in the dramatic arts are enjoying a new facility at Middlesex Community College: the Donahue Family Academic Arts Center Theatre.

The college, which has campuses in Bedford and Lowell, spent 10 years on the project, renovating the historic Rialto Theatre in Lowell into an academic arts facility for its music, arts and drama programs.

Karen Oster, chair of the performing arts program at MCC, said faculty and students had previously been operating in classrooms “that were not conducive to what we wanted to use.”

“The space was less than desirable,” Oster said. “We made do, but we were nomads going place to place.”

Even though they had recital space in Bedford, there was no similar space on the Lowell campus.

“We needed a dance studio with the right type floor for students, right type of mirrors and the right type of barres, and we didn’t have our own theater,” she said. The repurposing of the Rialto building called for a complete tear-down except for three standing walls and girders in order to maintain the historic nature of the building.

“It is a historic building outside, but inside it is an exciting new place,” Oster said. The theater, recital hall, dance studio and classrooms are housed in an egg-shaped structure in the heart of the building.

“The architects seemed to enjoy the concept of the egg as an image of rebirth,” she said. “Now we are at the threshold of these programs, which will allow them to become even richer and fuller.”

The renovation has allowed the college to introduce academic certificate programs in arts administration and technical theater.

“Students may not want to perform, but might enjoy working backstage on heavy-duty, high quality equipment. By learning on this equipment they are making themselves more marketable.” Students can gain the skills necessary for careers as “front of house folks,” producers, box office personnel, arts managers or directors, she said.

The theater’s inaugural production will be Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” the classic tragedy of two star-crossed lovers, which will be performed with a 21-member cast, 10 of whom will be making their MCC debut.

The height of the new facility allows for the space required for swordfighting as well as the iconic balcony scene, Oster said.

“I knew this would be our first production,” she said. “I’ve always wanted my students to have this experience, but we didn’t have the ceiling height for either swordfighting or a balcony.”

The new space allows Oster to have an office close to the action, she said. Additionally, tudents can attend technical theater classes right on stage, go into the lighting booth or work with equipment on a professional catwalk. If students need to practice a dance number, they can go to a studio that has the same footprint as the stage.

“It’s a million little things we’re able to do that we couldn’t do before,” she said.

“I feel so fortunate to have this beautiful place and such incredible support from the administration,” she said. “In other places, the arts are cut a lot, but they realize how important arts are in students’ growth and learning and for students who just want to feel like they can get involved with something really fun and feel like part of a family.”

The Donahue Family Academic Arts Center is located at 240 Central St., Lowell.